Sorrento or Tirana?

Sorrento gives you far easier access to the sea. A lift or stairway takes you down to the wooden piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande, where ladders drop into deep, clear water, and the rocks at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna are a short walk away. There is little sand, though, and much of the shore belongs to paid lidos. Boats to the coves of Capri make up for it.

From Tirana the sea is an outing. Durrës, under an hour away, has a long sandy beach with shallow water, but it is crowded on summer weekends and not always clear near the port. Albania's famous southern coves are a separate trip.

Both are good places to eat, but the cooking is very different. Sorrento serves Campanian food at its source: fish all'acqua pazza, gnocchi alla sorrentina, fior di latte from the hill dairies and lemons in everything. Some celebrated fine dining sits in the peninsula villages, but the menus around Piazza Tasso are best avoided.

Tirana's food is farm cooking: tavë kosi, fërgesë and morning byrek. The standout meals are at hillside farm restaurants, and long coffees and a closing glass of raki are part of every day. Neither city has much beyond its own cuisine.

Tirana gives you more to see in town, and its theme is the 20th century. The Cold War bunkers of Bunk'Art and the former secret police building at the House of Leaves are gripping visits, and Skanderbeg Square, the painted Et'hem Bey Mosque and the concrete Pyramid fill out two days.

Sorrento's own sights are quieter: the Roman street grid, the cloister of San Francesco with its Arab-style arches, the Museo Correale's Neapolitan paintings and the strange ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini. A day or two at a gentle pace covers them.

After dark the two have little in common. In Tirana, the former leadership quarter of Blloku fills with cocktail bars, lounge terraces and small clubs, people dress up, and the night starts late and runs well past midnight in summer. Larger clubs by the Grand Park lake go on into the early hours.

Sorrento's evenings mean a passeggiata along Corso Italia, a drink on a terrace over the bay, or Neapolitan songs in a piano bar. Outside high summer the town goes to bed early, and a big night in Naples or on Capri means staying over.

Sorrento sits in the more dramatic landscape. The peninsula is a steep ridge of olive and lemon terraces ending in sheer cliffs, with trails to Punta Campanella and Ieranto, the Path of the Gods above Positano, the beech woods of Monte Faito and the crater of Vesuvius all within reach. On the water you can take boats and kayaks along the coast.

Tirana's great asset is Mount Dajti, a cable car ride from the city edge, with forest trails and views to the sea. Bovilla's turquoise gorge and Gamti are good hikes. The Albanian Alps, its finest scenery, need several days.

Few places match Sorrento for day trips. The Circumvesuviana reaches Pompeii in about half an hour and Herculaneum just beyond it. Capri is a short ferry crossing, summer boats run to Positano and Amalfi with Ravello above, and Naples is about an hour away. Travelling by sea also avoids the slow coast road.

Tirana has strong heritage nearby. Kruja's castle and bazaar, the Roman amphitheatre at Durrës, Berat's white Ottoman houses, Shkodra and Apollonia are all within reach. But most of them are two hours away by road, so each one fills a whole day.

For families the two come out about even, and both are warm towards children without having much made for them. Sorrento's flat, largely pedestrian centre is easy with a pushchair, and boat rides and Pompeii go down well. But the swimming is into deep water off piers and rocks, and many hotels sit on steep lanes without pavements.

Tirana has the Grand Park playgrounds, the Dajti cable car and shallow sand at Durrës. On the other hand, its traffic and broken pavements make pushing a buggy tiring.

Both centres are small and flat enough to walk everywhere. The difference is in reaching further. Sorrento has a train and ferries, crowded and sometimes late but direct, so you never need a car. Tirana has no metro or tram, its bus routes are confusing for visitors, and cheap taxis fill the gap. Day trips there usually mean minibuses or a hire car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Sorrento has more local craft worth taking home. You'll find intarsia boxes and trays from its wood-inlay workshops, sandals made to measure while you wait, linen and cameo jewellery, even if lemon souvenirs dominate Via San Cesareo.

Tirana's best browsing is for food: cheese, honey and herbs at the Pazari i Ri. Filigree silver and felt hats are the crafts to look for, and the malls hold mainly high-street chains.

In cost the gap is wide. Tirana is among Europe's cheapest capitals: meals, wine, raki, taxis and museums barely dent a budget, and even the smart Blloku bars stay below Western norms.

Sorrento charges coastal-resort prices in summer for sea-view rooms, lido sunbeds and boat hire. Cheap trains, fairly priced trattorias and the lower hotel rates of spring and late autumn help, but they don't close the gap.

Sorrento's stage is mostly set for visitors: evening shows of tarantella and Neapolitan song, and chamber music in the cloister of San Francesco in summer. For serious opera you have to make the hour's trip to the San Carlo in Naples.

In Tirana, a proper opera house stands right on Skanderbeg Square. The National Theatre of Opera and Ballet puts on opera, ballet and concerts through the season, and seats are easy to get, though beyond it the scene is thin.

Sorrento is the more restful place to stay. The cliff hotels have pools, spas and terraces over the bay, the old villa gardens set an unhurried pace, and Ischia's thermal gardens are a ferry ride away. Spring and autumn avoid the summer crowds.

Tirana's spas are mostly in hotels, and the sulphur springs at Llixha are old-fashioned. Its calm comes from slow coffee and the evening xhiro, away from the traffic noise.